''Heterohyus'' is an extinct genus of

apatemyid Apatemyidae is an extinct family of placental mammals that took part in the first placental evolutionary radiation together with other early mammals such as the leptictids. Their relationships to other mammal groups are controversial; a 2010 stu ...

from the early to late

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...

. A small, tree-dwelling creature with elongated fore- and middle fingers, in these regards it somewhat resembled a modern-day

aye-aye The aye-aye (''Daubentonia madagascariensis'') is a long-fingered lemur, a strepsirrhine primate native to Madagascar with rodent-like teeth that perpetually grow and a special thin middle finger. It is the world's largest nocturnal primate. ...

.
Three skeletons have been found at the early Eocene site at Messel Pit, GermanySchaal & Ziegler (1992), pp. 174-177.

References

Bibliography

* McKenna, Malcolm C., and Bell, Susan K. 1997. ''Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level.'' Columbia University Press, New York, 631 pp.
Morlo, Michael et al. An annotated taxonomic list of the Middle Eocene (MP11) Vertebratae of Messel
gives as author: Teilhard de Chardin, 1921 - please refer to footnote 88.
Kenneth David Rose. The Beginning of the Age of Mammals. JHU Press, 2006
, , 428 pp. gives as author: Koenigswald, 1990 * Schaal, Stephan, & Ziegler, Willi (eds) 1992. ''Messel. An insight into the history of life on Earth''. Clarendon Press, Oxford. .

External links

Prehistoric placental genera Eocene mammals Eocene mammals of Europe Paleogene France Fossils of France Quercy Phosphorites Formation Fossil taxa described in 1848 {{paleo-mammal-stub